Bernie Sanders: I'm Going to Do All I Can to Make Sure Trump Doesn't Win

By Nick Gass, Politico

16 September 16

ernie Sanders does not even want to contemplate the possibility of a President Donald Trump, as the Vermont senator looks to boost the candidacy of former rival Hillary Clinton as Trump rises in the polls.

Appearing on CNN's "New Day," Sanders reaffirmed the nuances of his support for Clinton while facing questions from anchor Chris Cuomo, including whether he could work with Trump if he were elected president in November.

"Well, I am not looking toward a President Trump. I am looking toward a President Clinton. And by the way, let me just say this: the only way that we ever make real change in this country is when people come together at the grassroots level," Sanders said. "The day after Hillary Clinton, as I hope, is elected president, I will do everything I can to sit down with her and say, President-elect Clinton, this is what the Democratic platform is about. We worked together. Let's start implementing. Raising the minimum wage. Public colleges and universities tuition free. Transforming our energy, creating millions of jobs rebuilding our infrastructure. Taking on Wall Street. Let's get to work representing working families."

To that, Cuomo followed up, "And what if it's the first day and you have President-elect Trump, what do you do?"

"Uh ... try to overcome my depression and then figure out where we go from there," Sanders said, as Cuomo laughed and the Vermont senator grinned.

Sanders acknowledged the tightening polls and the possibility that Trump could win, adding, "I'm going to work as hard as I can to prevent that from happening."

"This is what I would ask of the American people and that is, and the media does not do this terribly often, put things in context. Do we have economic problems today? Damn right we do," Sanders declared. "How are we today, when compared to when [George W.] Bush left office and we were losing 800,000 jobs a month? Has [President Barack] Obama's economic performance been infinitely better than the trickle-down economics that we had from President Bush? Remember, you remember, that the world's financial system was on the verge of collapse. Yes?"

People can "criticize Obama all you want, but it really would be unfair to say that we're not better off today despite our many problems than we were under trickle-down economics," Sanders said.

At other points in the interview, Sanders sharply criticized Trump, particularly after the Republican nominee's campaign released a statement Thursday night declaring that after years of questioning Obama's birthplace, he now believes that the president was born in the United States. Trump, Sanders assessed, is "trying to waffle" and "appeal to those extreme, extreme, extreme, extremists who still believe that Obama was not born in America."

Sanders also invoked 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney, admitting that he is "not one of my political heroes" but adding that the former Massachusetts governor hit the nail on the head when he said Trump is a fraud and a phony.

"[Trump] is a very good showman. He manipulates media fantastically. He does exactly what media wants. He gives them some crazy statement every day and he's all over television. You can't turn on CNN without seeing Donald Trump. The reason he is doing so well is there is a lot of angst in this country, there's a lot of pain in this country, a lot of hurt in this country," Sanders said.

Sanders also attempted to appeal to his supporters who have now switched allegiances to Trump.

"Please, anybody who supports me, do not think that Donald Trump in any way, shape or form reflects the point of view that I have. What I have tried to do in my campaign is to say that we have got to come together come together as a people," Sanders said, going on to say, "That's what my campaign was about bringing people together, not dividing us up. So please do not anybody confuse Trump with me."